HOW TO INCREASE HUMAN GROWTH HORMONES
PRODUCTION NATURALLY FOR HEIGHT
You may wish to increase human growth hormone (hgh) levels in the body naturally for height or to grow taller in particular but what is growth hormone? You may ask..
Human growth hormone (HGH) also known as somatotropin is a hormone secreted by the pituitary gland in short bursts and at irregular intervals throughout the day.
The pituitary gland is located in the brain. [1]
It plays a wide range of functions including accelerating cell production and body growth.
Growth hormone response is mainly increased by ghrelin (growth hormone releasing peptide) – a hormone produced by the stomach when hungry and Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone (GHRH).
https://tinyurl.com/3cba7wzj
Growth hormone is primarily down-regulated by Growth Hormone Inhibiting Hormone (GHIH), typically known as somatostatin, and high blood glucose levels.
https://tinyurl.com/2p9fz2r8
Therefore, G.H release in the pituitary gland is mainly regulated by the balance between Growth Hormone Inhibiting Hormone and Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone.
Growth hormone releasing hormone is also influenced by other G.H stimulating factors like exercise, nutrition, sleep, and other supplements.
While Growth hormone inhibiting hormone (somatostatin) is released after meals and stimulated by an increase of amino acids, fatty acids, and glucose in blood.
Somatostatin release is also stimulated by gastro intestinal hormones.
Before discussing the different ways to increase growth hormone release in the body, we need address the different factors that will hinder the release of growth hormones.
Factors that adversely affect the release of growth hormones
1. Body fat
According to a number of studies, a reduction in testosterone levels leads to excess belly fat yet others report that it’s too much stomach fat that leads to a reduction in testosterone levels.
Though it’s not clear which is which, there’s a clear connection between the two.
In one study conducted by New England Research Institute that included 1,822 men, a man’s waist size was strongly linked to low testosterone levels.
Now you may be asking what does testosterone have to do with G.H ?
HGH is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland. Once HGH is released into the bloodstream, the hormone travels to the liver and stimulates the production of insulin-like growth factor 1.
Once released into the bloodstream, HGH also stimulates the testes into producing more testosterone.
Testosterone is another highly anabolic hormone that has a direct impact on protein synthesis, muscle mass, metabolic function and sexual health.
https://tinyurl.com/yfw5x9tr
Albeit it’s known that G.H increases testosterone levels, research shows that increased testosterone production will boost HGH.
https://tinyurl.com/bddksbcd
It clearly seems that there is a collaboration between the two both of which have positive effects on one another.
A number of studies have also linked obesity to a reduction in secretion of growth hormones due to the fact that obesity results into a reduction of ghrelin concentration in the blood, and an increase in free fatty acid levels which stifles GH secretion.
https://tinyurl.com/72fxpcw8
2. Over eating.
In an experiment to investigate if over eating had any effect on G.H secretion, 7 non-obese men aged 25 years on average consumed up to 70, 000 calories per kg weight of standard meals with proteins and carbohydrates but fat free everyday.
By the third day of the experiment, the average 24 – hour concentration of G.H in the blood declined by nearly 80% while the average 24-h insulin concentration doubled.
https://tinyurl.com/35kzwx2u
Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas which is located in the stomach.
Its role is to ensure that glucose levels in the blood are normal and stable.
A study that aimed to investigate the effects of insulin on growth hormone (G.H) secretion in rat pituitary tumour cells found that exposing the rat pituitary cells to insulin resulted to hindrance of G.H secretion by roughly 50% after a period of 2 days from the time the pituitary cells were exposed to insulin.
Eating too much, too often, may result to a reduction in HGH secretion simply because of the increase in insulin required to convert all that blood sugar into proper glycogen stores.
3. Hyperglycemia
A condition where the blood glucose level is too high because the body isn’t properly using it or doesn’t make the hormone insulin.
https://tinyurl.com/bddhjn5u
Carbohydrates from foods like fruits, milk, potatoes, bread, and rice, are some of the major source of glucose .
Once carbohydrates are broken down by your body, they become glucose then glucose is transported to the cells via the bloodstream.
Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas is needed to transport glucose to the cells like muscles.
If you have type 1 diabetes, it means your body can no longer make insulin to use glucose.
In such a scenario, Insulin is injected under your skin.
If you have type 2 diabetes, you may have enough insulin, but your body doesn’t utilize it well.
Thus you become insulin resistant.
Some type 2 diabetes patients may not produce enough insulin and if such patients don’t keep their blood glucose levels in check, it may result to hyperglycemia.
Say if you have type 1 diabetes and you don’t take insulin injections before meals, the glucose from the meal you just ate can accumulate in blood resulting to hyperglycemia. https://tinyurl.com/2p8f8ajy
4. Glucocorticoids
These are powerful medicines that fight inflammation and work with your immune system to treat a wide range of health problems like allergies and arthritis.
Studies show that administration of glucocorticoids leads to retardation of growth in rats and children on long term treatment of such drugs because they inhibit G.h secretion.
Such drugs inhibit G.H secretion due to the fact that they trigger the secretion of somatostatin by the hypothalamus.
https://tinyurl.com/2t2e95j6
Examples of such drugs include millipred, prednisone, dexamethasone and hydrocortisone.
Below are some of the ways to naturally increase HGH secretion
1. Sleep
Although it is likely that most episodes of G.H release are spontaneous, the greatest secretion of HGH occurs after exercise and at night during deep sleep also known as slow wave sleep.
The stage of sleep when it’s very hard to wake up someone.
In an experiment that aimed to monitor G.H secretion during sleep at night, it was observed that there was a significant rise in GH concentration in blood within the first 90 minutes from the onset of sleep but the time it took to reach peak G.H secretion ranged from 39 to 165 minutes and the average time it took to reach peak G.H secretion among the subjects was 70 minutes.
The rise in G.H secretion was gradual. The initial increase was observed 20-40 minutes from onset of sleep.
G.H concentration in the blood remained high for 1.5 to 3.5 hours before gradually reverting to normal or baseline level.
G.H secretion continued to peak and fall throughout the night though the initial peak that occurred within the first 90 minutes was greatest.
https://tinyurl.com/3cvtatsb
Thus, you need to optimize sleep time to increase human growth hormones in the body.
Further reading on how sleep contributes to body growth, on how sleep helps you grow taller page.
2. Exercise (High intensity interval training)
High intensity interval training implies substituting intense bursts of activity with steady periods of less-intense activity or sometimes resting.
For example sprinting as fast as you can for 1 minute and then relaxing for 2 minutes.
A study from Dept. of Physical Education, Loughborough University, UK: 2002 compared 30 second all-out sprints to 6 second all-out sprints.
The participants did just one set of such sprints and then HGH levels were monitored closely for 4 hours after the single sprint. Below is the synopsis of the results from the study …
1. Metabolic responses were greater after the 30 s sprint than after the 6 s sprint.
2. The greatest average growth hormone concentrations measured was after sprinting for thirty seconds and it was 40% greater than that of the six seconds sprints.
3. Serum G.H also stayed high for 90-120 min after the 30 s sprint compared with approximately 60 min after the 6 s sprint.
https://tinyurl.com/2f2r7td9
For more information about High intensity intermittent exercising and how to use it to increase growth hormones, visit the chaos training page
3. Intermittent fasting
Simply put, Intermittent Fasting is restricting your food or calorie intake for a specific period of time during a given day normally 16 to 24 hours but can be extended if you wish .
You may take water or sugar and calorie free beverage during this time.
If you choose the 16 hr fast which is easier and can be done more often through the week, then simply start fasting between 7 and 9 pm. By this time, you may have had your supper.
You will definitely have to skip breakfast then break your fast at about 12 – 1 Pm the next day which will be lunch time.
You may do this three times a week or even more.
Whenever you feel hungry, it’s because a hormone called ghrelin is released in the body.
In other words, ghrelin hormone is released whenever a meal is anticipated and it’s secretion falls approximately an hour after meals.
Ghrelin is likely a conditioned response that readies the metabolism for an influx of calories.
This explains why according to research conducted on 33 subjects to monitor spontaneous ghrelin secretion during 24 hours, it was ascertained that ghrelin levels are lowest in the morning and hunger is lowest in the morning when you’ve just woken up yet you’ve just gone over 7-12 hours on average without eating.
However, ghrelin secretion levels don’t continually increase even when you ignore hunger.
It spontaneously decreases after about 2 hours.
That’s why you may realize that during fasting, you feel hungry for some time, then a few hours later you feel perfectly okay even when you haven’t eaten anything.
Thus, if your meal times are fixed, ghrelin secretion is greatest at specific times when meals are expected during fasting and falls after food intake but ghrelin secretion doesn’t fall after ingestion of water.
https://tinyurl.com/2r3ra98v
Ghrelin administration in man stimulates GH release.
Thus, when ghrelin concentrations are elevated during fasting, increased ghrelin secretion triggers the stimulation of GH release.
Fasting also increases the frequency of growth hormone releasing hormone (G.H.R.H) secretion which is another trigger for G.H secretion. [2]
4. Nutrition / Foods that may boost G.H release.
If you prefer natural ways of boosting growth hormone release in the body, it’s safe to consider foods that can potentially increase G.H secretion.
A. Soy Protein.
Studies have demonstrated that consumption of protein foods rich in amino acids particularly arginine and lysine increases the concentration of G.H in the blood.
Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.
There’s a high concentration of arginine and lysine in soy protein hence consuming soy protein increases G.H secretion.
For instance, an experiment that aimed to investigate how consumption of amino acids affect G.H secretion, it was observed that after consuming soy protein , G.H concentration in the blood more than doubled.
However, when a meal of soy protein is taken together with both carbohydrates and fats, it greatly affects G.H secretion.
G.H secretion isn’t affected after soy is taken with either fat or carbohydrate alone.
https://tinyurl.com/mrcpav7u
B. milk
A study that aimed to asses the extent to which milk consumption increases somatotropic hormone concentrations among 9 – 11 year old Mongolian children discovered that milk consumption increases G.H secretion among pre-pubertal children.
The children who had little to no milk consumption and it’s products in their daily diets before the experiment were made to drink up to 710 ml of American UHT whole milk everyday for a month.
This resulted to an immediate stimulatory impact of milk on the secretion of GH and bioactive IGF-I which led to a slight increase in the children’s height during the month of milk consumption.
https://tinyurl.com/uptyhsz8
C. Gelatin protein
Gelatin is a colorless substance that is a product of prolonged boiling of animal skins, horns and bones.
It can be used as food or even glue.
It’s almost 100% protein and contains plenty of amino acids.
When research was conducted to ascertain if consuming gelatin triggers a G.H secretion response among individuals with weakened G.H response like the obese, gelatin ingestion increased G.H secretion in both lean and obese individuals by the same magnitude.
https://tinyurl.com/yzznp7vt
D. Melatonin rich foods.
A study that aimed to investigate the mechanisms by which melatonin modulates GH secretion established that oral administration of melatonin increases the secretion of G.H and it’s responsiveness to GHRH by hindering the release of somatostatin or growth hormone inhibiting hormone.
After childhood, the secretion of melatonin by the body decreases thus obtaining melatonin from food is very necessary.
Perhaps, studies demonstrate that consumption of melatonin rich foods increases circulating melatonin.
Nuts and seeds contain the highest concentration of melatonin.
pistachio nuts contain the highest concentration while walnuts, mustard seeds, oats, wheat , barley, pigmented rice (like black, red and purple rice), peppers, tomatoes, coffee beans/ coffee and germinated mug and soybean seeds also contain relatively high concentrations.
Eggs, fish and milk taken at night also contain high concentration of melatonin.
Besides the skin of grapes, tart cherries and strawberries, melatonin is relatively low in most fruits.
Other ways to stimulate the Pituitary gland for G.H release.
1. Supplementation with Alpha -glycerylphosphorylchorine (Apha GPC)
According to research conducted and issued in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition in 2008, 600mg of Alpha GPC [ https://amzn.to/2LFL6gH ] ingested one and half hours before resistance training or weight lifting increases the response of G.H secretion to resistance exercises and circulation of G.H in the blood. [3]
2. Oral diazepam (valium) administration
Diazepam is a sedative drug used to treat a number of health complications because of it’s calming effect including muscle spasms and anxiety.
When G.H response to oral diazepam administration was investigated, it was ascertained that diazepam stimulates the release of G.h.
Subjects swallowed 10 mg of diazepam and blood samples taken every 30 minutes.
An hour after oral administration of diazepam, The concentration of G.H in the blood increased significantly. https://tinyurl.com/4nj7ej8p
3. Ethinyl estradiol
Ethinyl estradiol is a pill that contains estrogen hormones that prevent a woman from ovulating. Such pills are normally used for birth control.
Low doses of this pill of no more than 100 micrograms can potentially increase growth hormone production.
when 23 children who were still in puberty with a short stature were treated with 20 – 40 micrograms of Ethinyl estradiol before going to bed at night, serum G.H concentration in blood significantly increased.
4. Clonidine
Chlonidine tablets are available under many brand names like catapres.
It may be used independently or in conjunction with other drugs to treat a spectrum of conditions like diarrhoea, reducing blood pressure and managing symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among others.
When a test was conducted to establish if clonidine can stimulate G.H secretion, 18 children and teenagers were orally administered with 0·15 milligrams of clonidine for every square meter of body surface area.
Growth hormone concentration in the blood significantly increased after oral administration of clonidine among all subjects.
https://tinyurl.com/mwu4cvwf
AUTHOR BIO
As a short guy who was psychologically distressed almost everyday due to the challenges he faced in life accountable to his height, Dennis Raney (Bsc.) finally somehow found a way to overcome this adversity by naturally increasing his height with lifestyle and healthy changes.
He has been researching this topic for over a decade and practically applying the knowledge so he decided to share his wealth of information about the topic of increasing height both during and after puberty in the book and on this blog.
Feel free to connect with him for a conversation:
Email: Dennis »»
Facebook: Connect »»
NEXT : how to grow taller after puberty complete guide.
Please Share If You Like This Page Thanks!